Harry Watson's High School Days Part 27

The cries also reached some of the other boys and girls farther down the river, and they set out to the a.s.sistance of the struggling skaters. But none of them had the speed of Harry.

With a swiftness that was astounding, the boy rushed over the ice toward the hole that was constantly growing larger.

Badly frightened, both Viola and Elmer clutched frantically at the edges of the ice, only to have them break away, sometimes in small chunks, again in large pieces.

"Let Viola hang onto the edge by herself. Go farther down, you Craven!"

shouted Harry as he dashed toward them.

But instead of obeying, having found a piece that would hold, the rich boy clung to it, allowing Viola to be carried past him.

"Oh, if I were only in the water with him, I'd fix the coward!" cried Harry. "I only wish the others were near enough to see what he did."

Thanks to his speed, our hero was so close to the hole that he was obliged to exercise caution lest he, too, break through.

"Here, give me a hand. That ice'll hold you!" shouted Elmer, as his rival approached.

But Harry seemed not to hear him.

"Hey, you fool, get me out of this; then we two can get Viola."

His pleading, however, was without avail. Straight along the edge of the hole Harry skated until he was abreast of the girl of whom he was so fond.

"Just keep hold of that ice cake a few moments longer," he called encouragingly. "I'll have you out in no time."

"But I'm too far from the edge. You never can reach me!" sobbed Viola.

And as she saw the firm ice so close to her, she made a frantic effort to swim out, with the result that she lost her hold on the floating ice cake.

Harry had been hoping that the current would carry the girl in toward a part of the river where it would not be so difficult for him to get to her. But the instant he saw her hands slip from the cake, he sprang into the water.

Being a good swimmer, it required only a few strokes for him to reach the side of the girl, but as he did so his troubles began.

Handicapped by his clothes and his skates, when Viola seized him in the despairing clutch of a drowning person, he was almost drawn under.

"No, no, you mustn't grab me around the throat, Viola!" he gasped. "Put your hands on my shoulders. If you don't, you'll drown us both. I won't let you sink-and if you'll only do as I tell you, I'll have you safe and sound in a jiffy."

Something there was in the tone in which the boy spoke that not only soothed the frenzied girl, but gave her confidence, and though she did not remove her hands from around Harry's neck, she ceased her struggles, permitting him, by means of the ice cakes, and treading water, to make his way toward the firm ice.

The other boys and girls who were hastening to the a.s.sistance of their schoolmates had watched the rescue eagerly, and when they saw the boy half roll, half lift the girl out onto the solid ice, they cheered l.u.s.tily.

But in saving Viola, Harry had overtaxed his strength. Indeed, it had only been by putting every ounce of his power into the effort that he had been able to raise the girl from the water; and the instant he saw her safe, he sank back.

The realization that she was on sound ice, however, restored the girl to her senses; and as she beheld the boy who had saved her from the icy waters lose his hold, she spun about; and with a quick move, caught his coat sleeve as his arm went up in the air.

To the task of pulling Harry from the water, however, Viola was not equal.

"Hurry! Hurry! Help me!" she shouted to the leaders of the other would-be rescue party. "I can't hold him much longer!"

"Hey, you, come and get me first! I've been in the water longer!" yelled Elmer.

But fortunately for Harry, it was Paul and Jerry who were in the van of the skaters, and at Viola's cries, they put on every ounce of speed they had, relieving her of her hold just in the nick of time.

Harry, however, was more used up than the others had believed, and it was several minutes before he opened his eyes.

"Is-is Viola safe?" he gasped.

"Indeed, I am, Harry!" returned the girl, bending over him. And there was a light in her eyes that thrilled the boy who had rescued her.

When he tried to get up, Harry found he had no strength.

"Somebody go get a sled," commanded Longback.

"And let him lie here cold and wet, while you're going for it?" stormed Viola. "Pick him up and carry him, some of you."

Instantly Paul, Jerry, Dawson and another boy seized Harry, and half supporting, half carrying him, they got him to the sh.o.r.e, while Nettie and the other girls helped Viola, leaving Elmer to the tender mercies of Pud and Socker, who had finally arrived in time to drag him from the water.

But even they wasted few words on him, ashamed as they were to think that he should have sought to save himself at the sacrifice of Viola.

Straight to bed did Mrs. Watson put Harry when he was brought to the house, giving him warming drinks; while his chums rubbed his benumbed arms and legs. But he did not respond to their treatment as quickly as he should, and in alarm, his aunt finally sent for a doctor.

Grave, indeed, did the man of medicine look after he had completed his examination of the boy.

"If he'd been exposed for another half hour, I doubt if we could have brought him around," he announced. "As it is, it will be several days before he will be up and about."

But the physician was mistaken-his days were weeks.

His nervous system overtaxed because of his worry in regard to his father, Harry's physical condition had run down, and the chill he received caused him to go off into pneumonia.

Harry's illness, however, served one good purpose-it caused a reaction in the feelings of his schoolmates. When it became noised around that he had endangered his life to rescue the girl who was skating with his implacable enemy, the boys and girls of Rivertown High realized that he was made of good material. And their change in feelings was shown by calls they made to ask about his condition, and the delicacies they sent in. But only Paul, Jerry and finally Viola were allowed to see him, though they were forbidden to talk to him.

Little, indeed, did he talk, and then only to ask if word had come from Jed Brown. And as his aunt was forced, day after day, to declare that she had heard nothing, the boy seemed to lose all interest in getting well.

But the crippled veteran, though silent, had not deserted the boy who had rescued him from the bully.

Arrived in Lawrenceburgh, he had vainly pleaded with several influential men to arrange for a stay in the execution of sentence upon Harry's father. But one and all, they turned a deaf ear to his pleadings, and Mr. Watson was forced to go to prison.

But on the very day he entered upon his term of punishment, old Jed stumbled upon a clue which was to prove his innocence.

Chancing to drop into a tobacco store which was kept by one of his war comrades, he was amazed to find still another member of his old company dressed in handsome clothes and wearing a diamond ring. As the man had always been a ne'er-do-well, the change in his circ.u.mstances puzzled Jed, and when the fellow had taken his departure, he asked the shop-keeper what had caused it.

"That's what I'd like to find out," returned the tobacconist. "For the last six months, Bill has been going around with his pockets full of money. He's living at the Ransom House, too."

This being one of the chief hotels in Lawrenceburgh, the fact still further emphasized the turn in the veteran's fortunes.

"Ever give you any idea how he got the money?" asked Jed.

"Says he done it by writing. Bill always was a good writer, you know.

Don't you remember how he used to forge pa.s.s orders for some of the boys when they wanted to leave camp?"